


The Grail Wars

by Stelex



Category: Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/stay night - All Media Types, Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel (Anime 2017), Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (Anime 2014)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-06 18:03:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17349989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stelex/pseuds/Stelex
Summary: It all began with a desire to save,from a fire that burnt millions,a sword was born. Even after death,that purpose,that desire lives. Changing fate is something that should not be possible,yet this being offers him the chance.Even if it is all for naught,he would die upon that hill a thousand times more with a smile,just to change that fate and stay the night when everything went to hell.





	1. Prologue

**_ Intro: _ **

**_ Prologue 1-At the End of All _ **

Shirou Emiya stood(?) in the abyss, staring(?) out into the eternal void. He had gotten used to such situations – being tossed around dimensions, catching interest of eccentric powerful beings, and having to fight while being fatally injured. Nothing much surprised him anymore. Also, this time around, at least he knew the reason he was in such a strange place. More or less, it must have been because he had died. It was not like it was not his time. He had saved many people. Even though he could have saved more, he realized, he was too tired to put up with all the shit that life kept throwing at him. The Grail War had been the beginning of the deaths. Everyone he loved had eventually died. Still he had followed his ideals, not bothering to do more than pause to mourn. If this was the afterlife, his afterlife, then it was aptly relevant. All he needed now, was time. Time to mourn, time to think, time to regret and time to think upon all the things he had so casually ignored. His ideal was beautiful. And it was flawed. He had always known as much. And yet, he had followed that path till his very last breath, hoping to see  _that smile_  again.

In the end, he mused, this could not be anything other than the afterlife, for it was too quiet to be anything else. His thoughts were interrupted however, almost as if he had jinxed it all by himself, the perfect blackness of the abyss was suddenly marred by a pinprick of light. Even though he could neither feel nor see his body, he felt unreasonably afraid of that small white dot, to the point that he was sure if he could see his body, it would have been shaking with terror from the tip of his hair to the bottom of his feet.

"You need not fear, little one. That just the beginning, of everything." Someone(?) spoke from beside him. Startled, he turned(?) to find a very strange thing floating(?) beside him, staring at the pinprick just as he had been doing not too long ago. The thing, for it did not match the description of any being he had ever known of, was purely black. It was vaguely humanoid, and only visible because it was blacker than the absolute black of the abyss. Even though Shirou should not have been able to see the face, he was able to see something resembling eyes and a nose. There was, however, no sign of a mouth.

"Just  _what_  are you? And  _what is that_?" Asked Shirou, unable to collect himself, and too unsettled to be polite. The thing turned. It almost felt like he was being assessed, and was found less than satisfactory, through those black orbs. The pinprick had widened somewhat, and appeared to be somewhat the size of a basketball.

The being spoke. " _That_ ,young child, is what your kind would call "creation". However, it is not just your creation. What you saw, is the creation of various "trees", various Eternities, or to simply speak, various "Realities". Not that the last one is accurate. But, I think, it is enough dumbing down for you to grasp that concept, even if it is not  _entirely_ accurate."

Its voice was something that could not be compared to anything. Even though Shirou had met and fought many species, both normal and Phantasmal, he couldn't compare it to any one of them. It was primal, yet humble. Deep, yet shrill. It was a contradiction which went far beyond his perceptions.

"It's better if you try not to think about these things. You wouldn't be able to grasp these concepts, of that I'm sure." It said, as if reading his mind. "Let's just get this over with quickly. Being here isn't something which is going to be beneficial for you."

"What are you talking about? What is this place? And who-what  _are_  you?" Shirou asked, feeling slightly panicked. Strange situations were not new to him, but this, this was new, as every time anything mysterious had happened, he had been able to calmly gauge his options. That he was here, even when he was dead, put him off balance. This being, whatever it was, was definitely above the two supreme entities which were Alaya and Gaia. The power that enveloped him, was just like a blanket. It was clear, that at the slightest whim, the blanket could strangle him, even when it felt warm and good.

"Don't keep asking  _what I am,_  if I answered  _that_ , it would take a long time before you could come to understand. This place is what your kind, that is, mages, would call "The Root". Only, it's more of "Roots". You can say that this is the garden of existence."

"Roots?" He asked. It was a baffling concept that more than one of that existed, yet he could not help but trust that this was the truth. "How can it be possible? The root is supposed to be the Root of All Existence-"

"Exactly." It answered. "These are Roots of various existences. Anyway, we are getting off topic. So you are hereby not allowed to speak anything until I explain your purpose here." It continued, with an authority even greater than all of the Heroic Spirits he had met, put together.

"I have prevented your soul from moving on. Why, you may ask, would I do that? The answer is simple, I am offering you another go at everything. Of course, as things stand, and seeing how your life turned out, it is not an offer that should be taken lightly. You get to keep your memories, along with another go at saving all those whom you hold dear, even after they have kicked the bucket. It is not exactly easy to do this for other, lesser beings, but I am willing to let you have all this. Other beings, who hold the power to give you another chance, merely do so either by sending your memories to a particular point in time and cutting off the branch that holds the information about the events that happen after that which will result in the future that was cut off crumbling away, or, by simply sending the memories to another dimension where things have not happened yet. But, what I am going to do, is very different. I am going to reverse the growth of the particular  _branch_  that is your world and then send you to its "present"."

"Doing so would enable you to change the future, though it would not be quite easy. Other entities exist, like Fate, who will try to "correct" the events in order to preserve the "original" version of the tree of existence. Anyway, just that changing the events is possible, should be enough. So, now tell me, do you wish to accept my offer?"

"Wouldn't changing the future mean that all the experiences I went through and all the sacrifices that people made for me, would be rendered meaningless? It is a good deal, but that in itself is the problem. Generally there's a catch involved." Shirou said, finally being able to speak again.

"No, their sacrifices, the experiences, would all live on in your head. It would be just like a delusional illusion about how the world would turn out to be, because I have faith that you can fuck it up even without meaning to. There is no catch however. I do not mean to subjugate your soul or make you sign a contract to become my slave, the only thing you have to do, is try to preserve certain events, because if you change too much, then the situations might get worse." The being answered.

"If that is so, then I am grateful, and ready to go through with this." Shirou replied. ' _After all, if I can save them, if I can see them smile again, and if I can save more people, then it would not be a waste, and I would not regret it. Not even if I die, not even if I end up sharing the same fate as **him**.' _Shirou thought, even the idea of becoming someone like  ** _that person_**  making him feel repulsed.

"Fine then, shall we proceed with your training?" The being asked and Shirou got the feeling that it sounded happy.

"Training? What for?"

"Of course I wouldn't send you off without completely mastering your Magecraft. Did you think that I would let you half-ass it? First, I am going to give you some memories from your alternate selves, then you are going to apply those memories and master all the aspects of your Magecraft. The situations you are going to be put in to achieve this complete mastery would also give you valuable experience in all sorts of other areas."

"I thought that as I am now, I can beat most of the Heroic Spirits in the War." Shirou asked, his curiosity finally shining be fair, he  _had_  taken on Apostle Ancestors and killed them, even though they were the weaker ones and it had taken a lot of effort and planning to do so. Before death, he had become someone worthy of being called the successor of the Magus Killer.

"Nope, not happening. The War in your reality went a lot smoother than what could have been. The weapons in your Reality Marble may be enough to counter the noble phantasms of your War, but that doesn't mean you can win. You know that too. Also, you are overestimating. Your body became used to projections, and your circuits became more used to the strain after the War, to the point that you were able to do Projections that would have left you an inch from death during the War. The body you will get, will be slightly better, but not nearly as efficient as your last one."

"What do you mean 'The body you will  _get_ '?"

"It means, that reversing the growth will result in some alterations to the past, to accommodate the memories that you will have of the War. I know that your body will be slightly different along with your past, but those will be minor changes, at best." The mysterious entity answered.

"Well, I shall go along with it, because the opportunity is too valuable to waste over slight changes." Shirou conceded. ' _It’s not every day that a person gets a chance to change the past after all'_ Shirou thought.

"Then let us commence with your training. You may address me as Aries."

"The god of war?" Shirou asked.

"No. The first symbol of the zodiac."

* * *

 

**Prologue 2**

**Till these dreams turn to dust**

_A wish._ That’s how it had all begun.

Lying in the fire, having abandoned everything, including hope, waiting to die, yet not wanting to, that smile that Kiritsugu had on his face while saving him had given him a wish.

A wish to imitate that happiness. A wish to be able to smile that smile. He had always been a Faker, it seemed. Everything about him was an imitation. His smile, his ideals, even his wish. And yet he had never wavered on this path.’ _Because surely, if Kiritsugu could smile that smile, then this path was not wrong.’_ Every timeline he was allowed to see, every memory he lived, he had never ceased to cherish the beauty of his ideal. True, in some realities, he had changed his ideal drastically. Yet he had never given up on it. Perhaps this pursuit of a hopeless ideal was the only original thing about Shirou Emiya.

Every breath he took, was completely calm. With every second that passed, in this world without any semblance of intelligent life that Aries had apparently created without as much as batting an eyelash, memories flooded his brain, making him relive the experiences of his alternative selves.

Aries had faded, that baffling darkness which had appeared unnatural and natural at the same time, was now replaced with a constant presence in the air. It was not that he was gone, he could still feel the powerful, suffocating presence, Aries had simply decided, and correctly so, that his appearance would be distracting.

This was the first part of his ‘training’. It was to relive the memories that had been dumped in his brain. Aries had explained, that if the memories had been dumped into his soul, instead of his mind, it would have created a strain. The soul was a hard drive which grew with passage of time, the mind was the input, and memories were the data. The process was necessary, so that he could shut off his own senses and absorb the memories with time. It was only necessary because after being born in the world, the soul became too in tune with the concept of time. Had he been untouched by the influence of the World and Time, this would have taken only a matter of microseconds.

It was also important to notice the shifts in his personality, and his soul, Aries had further explained, because the changes would inevitably affect his Reality Marble, Unlimited Blade Works.

Reliving these memories was not really a shock. All of the Shirou Emiyas had inevitably followed the same path till the War started. The War was the point at which, their paths had diverged. It was almost funny, he thought, how easily he could have saved them all, had he taken a slightly different decision on that night when the War had started.

It was a bittersweet reminder, every single time he experienced the memories, that the slightest change in his actions would have resulted in a far better outcome.

And yet, here was a chance, to ensure that such a world would not exist.

Every set of memories that he had been ‘given’, was of a War entirely different that the others. He had been only given three. He was not allowed to know more, after all, he was not one of the Five.

The fourth set, was not his own. It was from various perspectives. It was of the Fourth War.

Yet it was not currently his concern. He would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Every single one of the three Wars, now that he thought about it, was unsurprising. After everything that he had gone through in his life, he was able to foresee the end of each battle. Perhaps it was accurate, when Aries had called it his “Eye of The Mind”. The countless battles had taught him the way to predict how everything will happen in the following seconds. By no means, was it a revelation, nor was it future sight. It was just identifying all the possibilities, and acting upon the most probable.

Under normal circumstances, even that should not have been possible. However, he had learnt mysteries called “Thought Acceleration” and “Memory Partition” from an Alchemist from Atlas. That person had not meant to reveal the secret to the mysteries, but circumstances had forced him to teach them to Shirou. Memory partition allowed him to think up a large number of ways in which the battle could progress and then identify and plan for the most probable ones. Thought acceleration had ridiculously decreased the time it took for the process. The two combined with his Reality Marble, had made him nearly invincible.

Each of the three Wars were completely different from his own. The situations, the battles, the casualties, _everything._ Seeing those possibilities, it was difficult for him to not dwell on what could easily have been.

By the time he was done with the three wars, and the three lifetimes, nearly a century had passed. That was to be expected though. This world was made such that there was no need to eat, to rest. The world itself supplied him with enough Prana to exist. It was not like this was a real body anyway. The form that he had right now, was merely a manifestation of his soul. Prana was enough to maintain it.

Aries had not gone away. His stifling presence, and overwhelming power was enough for Shirou to grasp that fact. However, _it_ did not even stir, as if it was asking him to go on and be done with it quickly. And so Shirou complied with its will.

The fourth War was very bloody. Even compared to the other wars, it was particularly violent. That was to be expected, however, as most of the participants were well-informed, ruthless magi, who had planned extensively for the War. In contrast, though the fifth War had its own share of ruthless Magi, no-one had pre-planned for it.

Had he been the Shirou Emiya from before the War, or even the one who had survived it, he wouldn’t have been as calm about the way Kiritsugu had handled things. However, having lived through his own life, he had come to accept the end that his ideal would eventually lead him to. Of course, he knew about the Magus Killer. After all, he had eventually found out everything about the fourth War and Kiritsugu’s life. Illya had initially piqued his curiosity, and it had eventually become a desire of his own. To know how Kiritsugu had become the man who had saved him, that had become a wish of his own.

All of that aside, even before experiencing these memories, he had known almost everything about the fourth War. But actually experiencing them, made everything more _real_.

By the time he reached the end of the memories, he had become mentally exhausted. So he wasn’t exactly ready to see the form Aries had decided to take. The moment he opened his eyes, Shirou saw Aries sitting upon a throne of stone. With eyes that constantly shifted colors, hair darker than the night and wearing black jeans and T-shirt, his aura screamed of power. Though he was dressed normally, Shirou could only define him as majestic.

“Are you quite done with checking me out?” Aries asked, his voice pleasantly deep, and lacking any accent. He appeared to be quite amused.

“ _Why_ did you suddenly decide to take a form?” Shirou, against his better judgment, questioned.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly _suddenly_. At least, _you_ should not call it as such. I mean you were sitting there for two centuries, so I decided to take a form in which communication would be easier. Humans do tend to be less reserved around beings that appear to be similar to themselves. Of course, it was not exactly _necessary_ either. But since I had too much time…….well, anyway, the merging process is complete. All that remains is for you to gain some experience in utilizing them. And for that, you will be fighting him.” With that, Aries pointed behind Shirou. A loud roar resounded from around the same direction.

“And who might _he_ be?” Shirou asked, already dreading the answer.

“A Dragon. The greatest of all the Phantasmal species” Aries looked distinctly amused.

 _‘Great, just great.’_ Shirou fumed, dodging the dragon’s claw. ‘ _First he fucks up my mind with those memories, and now he’s trying to mess up my body.’_

“I _can_ hear your thoughts you know”

 _‘And now he won’t even let me have privacy in my own mind.’_ Shirou thought.

He had been fighting the dragon for a long time now, and yet he was not tired. His reserves were brimming with Prana, yet he wanted to get over with it quickly. Had he not been unable to die in this place, then he would have kicked the bucket at least ten times in the first five minutes.

Dragons were truly the most dangerous of all the Phantasmal creatures. With claws as sharp as any sword, skin that many of his fake Noble Phantasms had a hard time penetrating, and fangs that looked like daggers, this dragon seemed to be too strong. However, being able to breathe fire, or whatever that was (it seemed to be pure energy) made it totally, and utterly overpowered. On top of that, as soon as Shirou had tried to trace one of the Anti-Dragon Noble Phantasms, Aries had somehow disrupted it. Apparently, Anti-dragon Noble Phantasms were “cheating and hence prohibited”.

It was not as if Shirou could not understand the reason for the restriction. Indeed, if he was to fight using even the weakest of them, the battle would be over rather easily. The point of the whole thing was to make him familiar with using his Reality Marble.

 _‘Well, it’s not like there are other restrictions.’_ He thought. Truly, in a world of blades, it did not matter if a few hundred were not to be used. With that thought, he dispersed Kanshou and Bakuya. He had always been a bit partial to those words, as they were the first Noble Phantasms he had traced. But fighting a _dragon_ with them, was probably not the best idea.

Shirou jumped backwards. And without any warning, Aries paused time. From the beginning of the battle he had been sitting there, and yet not a single attack, from either party had even gotten close to him. It was as if the world itself understood that even slightly inconveniencing him, might lead to dire consequences.

“Well, it looks like you _finally_ got the answer to this battle.” He remarked.

And so he had. From the beginning, the battle had been about killing the dragon. Shirou had finally figured out how to do it, while also not completely obliterating the surroundings.

“And now, the last thing for you to figure out.” Saying that, Aries snapped his fingers, and Shirou was overcome with pain. “The thing on your arm, is the Emiya family crest. A ripple caused by your ‘time travel’ would cause Kiritsugu to pass it on to you. You’ll find out the details when you merge with your ‘other self’. So all you have to do now is to utilize it to its fullest and _quickly kill the fucking dragon already._ ” He added, somehow sounding bored and irritated at once.

Shirou used Structural Grasping on the crest. The information flowed into his mind. This was not the complete crest. It was only a part of the whole, but it was enough to allow the user to create a bounded field and stagnate or accelerate time. The scale and size of the bounded field affected the time it would take for it to actually achieve its purpose. Its set-up was a process that was impractical for battles, unless it was a long and drawn out battle confined to a single area. However, as Kiritsugu had demonstrated in the Fourth War, it was possible to use it in battle by minimizing the affected area to one’s own body. Even though the movement speed could be substantially increased by this method, after the spell ends, the world’s ‘correction’ would inevitably cause damage to the body, by forcing it to adjust to the flow of time.

However, taking into account the healing granted by Avalon, and his body’s unique method of healing by making swords erupt out of his body to seal the injury, he could use Time Alter relatively to a higher extent.

Here, in this world however, he did not need to worry about death and being stabbed by countless miniature blades. Here, it was possible to utilize it to its maximum.

“Time Alter- Deca Accel”

The time inside his body sped up a bit too much as the crest altered it to flow ten times faster. Aries had, by that time, already resumed time. Shirou saw the dragon open its mouth, slowly, as if it was submerged in oil. Fire crawled out of its gigantic maw. A single moment seemed to last an eternity.

It was almost too easy to kill a dragon in such a state. He traced Caladbolg II and a black bow, both of which were created by Archer. Caladbolg II was an altered version of the sword, and the sleek black bow was an original creation by Archer. Shirou notched Caladbolg II on the bow, and waited. As the dragon slowly opened its huge maw to breathe fire, he aimed and shot the sword-arrow straight into its mouth. As soon as it left the bow, Caladbolg II started spinning. The space around the sword distorted, as if it was being twisted with the sword’s spin. It went into the dragon’s mouth and before it could exit from the back of its skull, it exploded. The sword had been a Broken Phantasm.

The body of the dragon fell, its slightly flared wings hitting the ground with a burst of air. The dull _thud_ that resounded when it finally hit the ground, emphasized the feat that Shirou had accomplished. Rare were those, who had battled a dragon and lived to tell the tale. Even rarer still, were the ones who had brought down the mighty phantasmal singlehandedly. By all means, it should have been a thing to be proud of, yet all Shirou felt was pity. Pity that such a mighty beast would have to fall, just because of him. It was a pity, but it was not something he regretted.

What he vowed to never attempt again, however, was using this degree of Time Alter. The moment he ended Time Alter, the world started to correct his internal time, causing various wounds, many of which would have been fatal, to appear on his body. In response to the injury, swords erupted form them, as if trying to seal off the wounds, and hurting him even more in the process. However, both the swords and the injuries were gone in seconds. He may be invulnerable in this place, but he sure as hell still felt pain. And that pain also meant, that if he were to attempt to do it again, the he would be dead in less than a second after ending the spell. Even when Time Alter was active, he had felt the strain of ‘correction’ trying to end the spell, and the pain that meant that it was causing various sorts of injuries to his body.

“Done with slaying your first dragon, I see.” Aries remarked, ignoring the things that happened after it. He was still sitting on the same rock, lazily gazing at the dragon’s remains. “Don’t pity the dead. Not that one anyway.  It was not a _real_ dragon after all. Just an imitation. A real dragon is plenty more intelligent than this one, even the dull ones know when to fly away.” He said, as if remembering something.

Aries’s eyes suddenly focused on Shirou. “Now, it is time to send you back. Though it may seem different, and merging with your past self may reveal some deviations from what you remember, do not be worried. The place you will be sent to is your timeline. Better believe it, _because I said so, so it can be nothing but the Truth._ Also, the familiar bond might cause Saber to realize the situation pretty quickly. ”

“What do you mean? Would Saber _remember_? And if the familiar bond is going to cause such a thing, then what about my bond with Rin?” Shirou asked hopefully. After all, it would be far less troublesome if he did not have to hide the future(s) from the people who were inevitably going to be near him.

 “In the order of your questions, Yes and No. I meant that your bond with Saber will act as an anchor to her memories, and seeing as she is already being fed information from the Grail, the memories would be easily and quickly processed. The Grail would aid in the accommodation of the memories. I could have done the same with you, but that would have caused an identity crisis as your case had more than two set of memories involved. Also, for your final question, the bond with Rin made you _her_ familiar, not the other way around. Saber, on the other hand, was _your_ familiar. Rin might get flashes of the future that will never come to pass, at best. But not more than that. Saber will, however, completely retain _her_ memories.” Aries answered, sounding bored.

Abruptly, Aries sat up straight, and turned to Shirou.

“If you _really_ wish to talk with me again, you might just be able to, if the situation is dire enough. One last thing before I kick you out form here, because you have seen the ‘roots’, I have granted you limited amount of two of the Seven Magics. Denial of nothing, the first of the seven, would allow your projections to face minimal resistance from the World, and Time Manipulation will let you use Time Alter a bit more effectively.”

“Seven? But there are supposed to be only Five Magics” Shirou asked, picking up on the tidbit of information.

“You pay attention to the least important things first, don’t you? Anyway, yes, there are Seven. The last two were dealt with because they made extensive and unnecessary use of their Magic. Also, they breached upon my domain. Word of advice, don’t _ever_ even think of doing that, even if you cannot actually do it.” Aries explained, his voice sounding threatening near the end.

Shirou properly conveyed his thanks and then it was time to go back in time. As soon as he thought that, all of his senses faded, and he knew no more.


	2. Awakening

**Chapter-1**

**Awakening**

Shirou was feeling nauseous. Whatever the hell had happened was drowned out by the urge to vomit. He centered himself. Taking deep breaths, he started to systematically go over his memories. The last thing he remembered was fainting before Aries, yet there was another memory, that clashed with this. He also remembered being stabbed and chased by Lancer and fainting in this shed which was also his workshop.

 _‘Well it isn’t like this is the first time that something like this has happened_ ’He thought. ‘ _Going through an event four times sure does take away the moment of dumbstruck-gawking that would have otherwise followed this. I wonder though, why do I feel like I am forgetting something really, really important…?’_

The Summoning Circle in the shed was glowing as it was supposed to. He quickly projected a sharp kitchen knife, the tool was one which had allowed him to learn a great amount of recipes from its Accumulated Experiences, and used it to cut his palm and splatter some blood on the glowing circle.

This part of the process was important, as it would allow Saber to have a proper Master-Servant bond with him. After the War, he had researched the Grail War’s mechanics. It had been just to ensure that the Holy Grail would never be able to start _another_ War, but curiosity had, once again, led him astray. Before he had realized, he had already started researching how the War’s system worked. The reports from the Magus Association were very detailed, as they had thoroughly analyzed the Grail and its systems before wiping out all the traces of it. Shirou could never have obtained them, had he not gotten in touch with Kiritsugu’s former associates. The result had been very predictable. He had, once again, started to drown in grief, the research had only confirmed that had he been a bit more knowledgeable about things, then the War could have gone very differently.

However, this was not the time to bring up _those thoughts_ again. If he only saw the past-future, then he would end up letting things get out of hand _again_. The Summoning Process was almost complete. Truly, Thought Acceleration did provide a lot of time to think.

A mass of magical energy rose from the circle. This time around, he was able to feel the bond properly being formed. The command spells on the back of his hand tingled, and so the bonding was complete.

Shirou’s senses tingled, warning him of the danger that he was in. _Ah,_ he thought, _I had almost forgotten about Lancer. He should be coming in anytime now._ And the moment he thought this, as if he was following a script, Lancer’s footsteps echoed, slowly getting louder. Lancer would not rush, because he knew Shirou was helpless and trapped. Not to mention, Lancer was a Servant, and could catch up to him in an instant if he wanted to. All of these thoughts left his mind, as his breath was taken away.

Shirou stared, thankfully being composed enough to not gawk at the beauty of the scene in front of him. No matter the dimension, Shirou Emiya would always end up getting entranced by the beauty of Saber. No matter how many times he had experienced it, this scene never lost even a bit of its allure. The golden hair lit by the moonlight was finely textured, as if sprinkled with gold dust. The face, with some sign of naivety, had elegance, and her white skin looked soft. Standing in front of him, Saber looked as regal as ever.

“Servant Saber. Upon your summoning, I have come forth. I ask you, are you my master?” She asked quietly. Shirou did not answer. He was a bit too lost in his thoughts. It seemed, that Saber did not know him yet.

“Mas…..t…er?” Shirou repeated reflexively. Experiencing something memorable four times, did sort of ingrain certain responses into the subconscious.

“Servant Saber. Upon your summoning – Shirou? What is happening?” Saber exclaimed. It seemed that the memories had finally assimilated into her conscious mind. It was cute however, the way she had gone from being absolutely composed to utterly confused halfway through the sentence. Saber, noticing the amusement brimming in his eyes, blushed slightly. However, the interaction was cut short as soon as Saber felt a Servant nearby.

“I am assuming that you somehow ended up travelling to the past, the bond between us allowed me to regain the memories of the ‘future’, and that the Servant whose presence I feel outside, is Lancer.” She said, looking a bit too indifferent about the fact that they were once again involved in the War, and that they had _time travelled_. Oh right, she was basically used to the last part. Figures. It did surprise him though, that she knew the bond forged between them, when he had given some of his circuits to her, could do something like this. Maybe Merlin had taught her more about Magecraft than he had assumed. Or maybe it was just the Grail.

“And you would be correct on all three assumptions, Saber.” Shirou said, feeling nostalgic. He had never been able to forget her. She had been a quiet and strong support during this turning point in his life. The training and memories he had received from her had helped him out on various occasions much later in life. Because, apparently Unlimited Blade Works was capable of recording swords from memories, even if the memories were not his own.

They had already dallied long enough. Even though the exchange had lasted less than two minutes, they had wasted a lot of time. Shirou beckoned to Saber, gesturing for her to proceed with the battle. He was not going to try and stop her. Caster was a real threat, and there was a high chance that she was watching the battle using scrying spells or familiars. She was creepy like that.

Also, this War had the very real threat of Kirei and Gilgamesh. With a huge number of Command Spells and the strongest Servant, Kirei was already overpowered. Adding his training as an Executor of the Church, which had forced Kiritsugu to use Square Accel, was enough to make them the greatest threat in the War. Not to mention, he had stolen Lancer from his Master as well. The first priority, however, was Shinji’s (not really) frail Grandfather. Shirou was going to prioritize Sakura above _every other threat in the War_. What happened last time…….he would not allow it to happen again.

Pushing all these thoughts aside, Shirou leisurely walked out of the shed. He knew that Lancer would never be able to beat Saber. He did not know her identity, Saber however, knew his. Also, Invisible Air allowed her to hide Excalibur. Unless Lancer could somehow use Gae Bolg at close range, there was almost no chance for him to succeed. Hence, there was no need to rush. By the time he reached them, Lancer was already on the verge of using his Noble Phantasm. Just as the spear started glowing, however, Lancer stopped the activation. It seemed that Kotomine had decided to recall him sooner this time. Things were, more or less, progressing exactly as they had the last time around. _‘So this was what he meant, by the timeline resisting change’_ Thought Shirou, recalling the things that Ares had said. ‘ _I don’t know whatever he meant by the rest of the things he was going on about though.’_

And so it was time to meet up with Rin Tohsaka for the first time. Again.

It was the same situation again. Saber standing in front of him, ready to commence battle, Archer, with Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands, ready to defend Rin, and Rin standing there with a smile on her face, as if she had no cares in the world. It tugged at his heart to see that smile again. Like the last time around, Archer appealed to Saber’s honor by dispersing his blades. This time however, the exchange passed without either of them having to use a Command Spell.

Just like the last time around, they went to the Church. However, unlike the last time, Shirou had to _lie_. He had gotten quite good to lying to those who were not close to him. Unfortunately, that meant he couldn’t lie to Rin. He wished desperately, that she would not get _curious_. That never ended well.

                                                                         ***

Sooner than he knew it, he was exhausted emotionally. He had had to suppress a lot of emotions for the last few hours. Like the desire to hug Saber, the desire to hug Rin and tell her about _everything_ , the desire to utterly maim Archer and then kill him slowly, the desire to do the same with Kotomine and the desire to glance at the dark corners in the Church to account for the off chance that Gilgamesh had decided to observe.

By the time they had finally exited the Church, he felt like going to bed. Something must have shown on his face or his body language, because Saber had given him a concerned glance when they had reached her.

Shirou had been on guard while walking towards the gates of the Church. Even knowing that Berserker was out there, just waiting for them to exit the Church’s premises was enough to put him on edge. He relaxed his body. It had become quite easy to do so, after having learnt meditation to help him focus and perfect his Projection, relaxing his own body seemed a bit too easy. Illya was truly skilled. To be able to hide a mad behemoth like Berserker, to such a degree that even his senses could not find him, was a work of a great magus. But then again, maybe Berserker was not present and Illya was intending to summon him using her Command Spells.

The moment they started to proceed towards their homes, Berserker’s presence suddenly appeared. It was the single, most terrifying thing that Shirou had ever witnessed. And he had experienced _many_ things from the five sets of memories. Raw unadulterated rage seemed to pour out from the Bronze Titan. His killing intent left Shirou breathless, and caused even Saber’s expression to twitch. Though they had been prepared for it, the Mad Demigod’s presence was enough to strike terror in their hearts. Rin was faring worse than them. Archer had decided to find a tactical position, leaving Rin alone, and possibly feeling undefended in the face of a Berserker class Servant.

“So you summoned a Saber, Onii-chan.” Illya’s voice resounded, breaking the deathly silence. “It seems that you have some talent after all. Or maybe it’s all just luck.” She stopped, and looked at Rin and Saber like they had suddenly been spat out by the ground. “Illyasviel Von Einzbern, the master of Berserker. Nice to meet you” She curtsied, looking like a doll. Had those words not spelled doom for all of them, they might have even seemed cute.

“Einzbern….!!!” muttered Rin, as she finally grasped who she was speaking to. “And she has summoned Berserker! Dammit, why was I the only person to get a useless Servant!?” And so her muttering started to get darker. It was a typical Rin-thing, for her to get carried away by how she was the only one with an annoying Servant, when she should have been more worried about getting to see another day. After a few seconds of progressively darker muttering and sufficiently foul curses, she finally introduced herself.

“Ah, a Tohsaka!” Illya exclaimed, sounding slightly enthusiastic. “You should run along, I only have business with Onii-chan today. Tomorrow should be good enough to kill you. It’s not like you can actually hide or fight back. Berserker’s the strongest Servant. _If_ he can kill you isn’t even a question.” She looked quite merciful.

“Nah, not taking you up on that offer.” Rin replied, sounding unconcerned about the death promises. “Besides, we have greater chances of winning. Even if Berserker’s the strongest Servant, surely even he wouldn’t be able to fight two Knight-class Servants easily….” Rin’s seemed quite unsure about the last part.

“Oh, that’s a pity. I was feeling merciful tonight. It wouldn’t be a problem for Berserker to play with you too. After all, he’s Heracles. And it seems it won’t be a two-on-one fight today, your Archer seems to have wisely chosen to run away, unlike you. Enough talk, Kill Them Berserker!” Illya commanded, seemingly quite regretful about having to kill two Masters in the same night. To be clear, it was the kind of regret that a child felt after eating two candies quickly without savoring them.

“ **▂▂▃▃▅▅** ーーー!!” The insane giant roared, its voice was something that should have been beyond human capabilities. The only way to define it, was to call it a metallic roar. As it charged towards them, Saber ran forward to meet his attack with her own.

He knew it even before the two weapons clashed with each other. There was no way for Saber to defeat Berserker, not as she was at the moment. Without Avalon, and without a proper supply of Prana, she was quite weak. Unlike the last time around, he could easily have helped her defeat the bronze demigod, he could even have given her enough Magical Energy to fight at the peak of her capabilities. But the major problem, and the most important one, was to not reveal his own capabilities until Gilgamesh was dead and Sakura was safe. Sakura’s safety was paramount.

He did not want Zouken to take action in this War. While he could not hide the closeness between himself and Sakura, he _could_ make himself appear to be a worthless piece in the War. It would be quite troublesome to suppress his own desire to save everyone, but if it meant that Sakura would be safe, he was willing to do it. His ideal had never changed, but he also did not want Sakura to experience everything that she did, or would.

While he had been busy with his thoughts, Saber and Berserker had clashed several times. It was a testament of their speed, that they were able to move and fight quick enough to outpace a few Accelerated thoughts. He used _that sword_ to slightly increase the supply of Magical Energy to Saber. Even as she gained just the slightest amount of Prana, her pace quickened noticeably. There was a slight flash of surprise on her face. It appeared, that she had not expected him to be able to contribute anything more than the last time around, even if their bond was now a proper one.

With every strike, Berserker matched Saber’s speed and power, and completely exceeded it. It was awe-inspiring, that even in this maddened state, Berserker had enough skill to match one of the best swordswomen he knew of. And Shirou knew _many_ swordswomen from the Accumulated Memories of the various Noble Phantasms in Unlimited Blade Works. All those memories had considerably increased the number of records in it, and there were some that were just _there_ even though he had never those Phantasms in any memory. Aries must have been responsible for them. There was no other explanation.

Saber blocked another one of Berserker’s mad swings, redirecting it into the ground. Even with the extra Prana she was no match for him, as expected. In raw strength, speed and even in skill, Saber was outclassed. And then, as soon as Saber put some distance between herself and Berserker, Archer fired a sword-arrow. Shirou was easily able to tell that Archer had used Caladbolg II. It seemed to be their mutual favorite. Archer had also broken it. The signs were quite easy to recognize.

Shirou’s thoughts Accelerated considerably. With the current positioning, the brunt of the blast would be taken by Berserker. He looked at Saber again. Even if she moved at her full speed, she would not be able to escape the unscathed. Shirou himself would be wounded considerably, that is to say, if he had not already learnt complete Reinforcement. The only ones who were safe and almost out of the going-to-be-affected area were Illya, and perhaps Rin. That was good. It would be troublesome if he had to save them both, or even one of them. He would have to take action. It was unescapable. Berserker would conveniently survive of course, his Noble Phantasm was just pesky that way.

As soon as he completed accounting for all possible scenarios, he took action. It would take less than three seconds for Caladbolg II to fulfil its purpose. But that was fine, what he had to do did not require physical movement anyway. He drew Prana from _that sword_ and gave it to Saber. This time she was not as surprised as she had been. She used Mana Burst to jump back. Prana exploded from her feet, accelerating her enough for her to be able to escape the blast radius. Shirou Reinforced himself. It was not enough to be noticeable, rather, it was just enough to not be fatally wounded. He also started to move backwards. Anyone watching would believe it to be simply the desperate stumbling of a terror-struck man.

He would have done more, had he not needed to keep his own capabilities concealed.

As he had foreseen (not really), the arrow struck Heracles’s head, and exploded. The blast knocked Shirou off his feet, adding to the speed of his backward motion and sending him flying towards where Rin stood. Saber had safely escaped the blast radius and was rushing to catch him.

He used Structural Grasping to analyze the extent of his injuries. As predicted, they would not hinder movement. None of them were immediately fatal and Avalon would heal him before they could become a pressing problem. His clothes were torn, but they were not necessary. As long as his private parts were covered, no further clothing was necessary. Though he would have liked to save more of his clothes, he could not, would not, risk it.

Saber caught him right before he landed. Though the impact was reduced, her gauntlets did quite hurt. Her facial expression was as composed as ever, but her eyes betrayed a mixture of worry, confusion, concern and the slightest amount of anger. It was clear that though she was willing to let him make himself appear helpless and completely out of his depth, she was not happy about it. And that he was going to have to explain _everything_ the moment they reached the Emiya residence.

Shirou stood up shakily, his legs unsteady and weak. Rin appeared to be having serious words with Archer through her Master-Servant link. Illya was standing there, understandably unbothered by the way everything had turned out. Berserker’s headless corpse kneeled on the ground, looking burnt and quite heavily wounded.

“That’s not enough to kill Berserker, you know? Berserker is the strongest after all.” Illya said, sounding quite unruffled. Even as she spoke Berserker’s injuries healed. It looked like the damage to his body was being reversed. “You may have taken two of his lives, but it takes more than that to kill him” She proudly declared. True enough, by the time she had finished speaking, Berserker had already healed. Illya tilted her head, as if considering the situation, and smiled. “It seems you get to live another day Onii-chan.” The sun was beginning to rise. Night was fading into morning. Illya looked at Rin. “You get to live longer too, though I think you should sort out some matters with your Servant. Like not attempting to kill off your own allies. Or not making explosions in your immediate vicinity.” The big words sounded wrong in her child-like voice. She appeared quite bored.

Rin, on the other hand was fuming. It seems, that the night had been particularly unfavorable for her mental health. _‘Looks like she’s going to snap and kill everyone’_ Shirou thought, looking at her face. She had that irritated and twitchy smile that spelled danger for anyone who dared cross her. They had already started to head towards their respective homes. Sadly the first part of the way was common for them .Of course, that meant Shirou was fucked. Being a nice person sucked sometimes. It was time for tactical retreat. Shirou slowed his pace, and turned, intending to take a detour just to avoid getting possibly maimed, telling Saber to follow.

“ _Emiya-kun,_ I wonder where you are going?” Rin abruptly turned to face him. He really needed to improve his sneaking skills. “Well, it _is_ time for us to part. Remember this, next time we meet, I won’t hesitate to kill you.” She warned. Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely, it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.

“You’re a good person, Tohsaka. I’ll keep that in mind.” Shirou smiled. No matter how tough she tried to appear, he knew her, perhaps better than anyone else. And hence he knew, that no matter what she said, she would try to avoid killing Masters as much as possible. Though, he also knew that she would not think twice about killing someone when it was really needed. They had reached the place where their path diverged.

Rin looked like she wanted to say something more, but she refrained. She turned and walked away. Archer had already gone into his Astral Form. Saber had once again used the “improper summoning” excuse. He could really understand _why_ she used it, it was actually really convenient. It was also quite nostalgic.

Saber gave him a look. It spoke volumes about her patience, and trust in him, that she had gone along with everything without asking a single question.

                                                                         ***

Shirou began explaining the moment they had settled down around the table in his house. He went over almost every detail, only skipping the parts which were still too painful to talk about. Saber was patient, and her presence was calming. Looking at someone who was supposed to be _gone_ , made his memories a bit less real. Though he knew that every part of them was true, the memories themselves were of a time that would never be, he never would allow all that to happen _again_.

Saber was quite sad at how everything turned out. She had expected the War to be bloody and messed up. All Wars were like that, magical or otherwise. But she had never expected that the aftermath could be _so much worse_. Almost every person she had come to know in this era, had ended up dead in the lost future. Sakura, the sweet, smiling girl, who had hidden her pain with the brightest of smiles, had died with tears in her eyes, unaware of who she was, questioning her very existence. Rin, the tough, yet gentle woman, had succumbed to despair, finally meeting her end by the very magic she pursued, the Kaleidoscope. Illya, the small and beautiful child of Irisviel, had lived for months, knowing that her end was coming, that she would simply stop functioning, like a clock without a battery, a puppet without strings. And then one day, that end had become the truth.

Yet, plagued by despair, surrounded by death, Shirou had still never given up on his ideal. From her perspective, Saber could see that it was the only thing that he had left, the only thing that he continued existing for. Taiga had been the last person, who had given him a reason to live. She had succumbed to the final remnants of the Grail’s taint. Her death had been similar to Kiritsugu’s. She had died with a smile, talking to Shirou, making him promise to _live on_ with her last breaths.

It was clear to Saber, that the War had taken more than lives, and had lasted beyond its end. Though she had already realized that her wish for the Grail had been wrong, she still questioned whether Shirou realized that Saber’s path had been eerily similar to his own, and that his wish was as dangerous as hers. Both of them had spent their lives _faking_ , living for the sake of others, trying to make others happy, and yet neither of them had achieved the very ideal they lived for. Everyone they had cared for, had ended up dead. After everything, all Saber was left with, was a hill colored red by the blood of the ones she cared about, and all Shirou had achieved, was a world of infinite blades, and several swords in his back. The very people he had saved, had stabbed him in his back. His end was truly quite eerily similar to Archer’s.

                                                                         ***

By the time Shirou finished telling his story, the sun had properly risen. It was time to start working on securing Sakura. The worms in her body had to be properly dealt with. If she was to be left alone for the duration of the War, untreated, the worms would damage her placenta, and the other female parts. She had ended up unable to have babies the last time around, though, that had been the least of their worries.

Since the day he had been injured during his part time job, Sakura had started to take care of him, and even after he had recovered, she had not stopped. She would drop by every day to help him in his daily household chores, mainly cooking. She had never missed a day. Though he had always believed that she had done that out of the goodness of her heart, he had found out the _real_ , really obvious reason during the Holy Grail War. Even corrupted, broken and nearly insane, Sakura had been unable to deal a lethal blow to him. Both of them had known that it would have been pretty easy for her.

Remembering those days never failed to fill him with sadness. Today, however, he could not afford to be sad. He completely shut off that train of thought.

It was then, that he heard soft knocks echoing from the front door.

“Senpai! Are you awake yet?” Sakura’s sweet voice was barely audible. He did not rush, she already had the keys for the house. By the time he reached the door, she had already let herself in. She knew he would not mind, he had made that quite clear.

“Ah! Sakura! Good morning. Sorry, I was a bit busy doing some work in the shed.” He said. It was not really a _lie_. He had been trying to get Saber to hide in the shed. For being a King, she was quite uncooperative and overenthusiastic when it came to breakfast. Or food, in general.

It was probably not a good idea for Sakura to see Saber at such a time. He was a guy, and against what history books said, Saber was a girl. For them to be alone in a house, so early in the morning would definitely lead to the wrong conclusion. To Sakura, however, it would mean something else entirely. She would either be utterly heartbroken and the taint will start acting up, or she would be level headed and would detect Saber as a Servant. Both the possibilities had to be prevented. At least, until he had the proper setting to explain. The person who _would_ create that setting, was going to arrive in approximately twenty minutes. Enough time for them to cook breakfast, for a Tiger and a Lion King. He wondered, what those people at the zoo felt like. Surely, the situations were very similar.

Shirou followed Sakura to the kitchen, careful not to let any of his emotions show. They worked in the kitchen, working in perfect harmony. Cooking was something that they had enjoyed doing together for years. They were almost completely in sync, and now that Sakura knew most of his recipes, preparing _any_ sort of food was very quick. Bu the time they had finished with putting the final touches on the food, Taiga had already entered the front gate.

“SHIIIIROOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!!! It’s breakfast time already!!! I’m hungryyyyyyyy!” came the roar of the Tiger. Though it was unbecoming of her, she was actually _running_ inside the house.

“Breakfast is ready, Fujimura-sensei. We just finished making it.” Sakura told her.

The TV was once again going on about “Gas-leaks”. Kirei sure had a twisted sense of humor. Shirou still wondered how many hypnosis spells it took, for people to believe that _completely intact bodies_ in such a high number were the result of _gas-leaks and lance-wielding murderers._ Though gas leaks could kill you, such a high number of deaths by them was almost impossible. Those matters would be dealt with in time though.

He had a more important job to do at the moment. One that would make him quite guilty. Sakura had excused herself to use the bathroom. This was a golden opportunity.

“Eh? Shirou? Is something on my face?” Taiga asked, raising a hand to touch her face. He stared into Taiga’s eyes, and cast a hypnosis spell. It was really hard for him to do even this much.

“ ** _You are late for school, you must hurry because you had some work to do before school starts.”_** Shirou said, his tone commanding. His eyes were glowing slightly silver. Even this slight hypnosis was too much for him. It had only succeeded because most of it was the truth, and because she probably had been thinking so too. She was indeed going to be late for school, that is, if she had stayed a bit longer.

By the time Sakura came back, Taiga had gotten ready to depart. It would be more accurate to say, that she ran past Sakura shouting curses and declaring that she was late. Sakura looked at him, startled, though not quite surprised, at what had happened. It was not too odd for Taiga to be late to school, it was more of a regular occurrence. The preparations were done, the situation was perfectly set-up and the time was right.

Now that Taiga was out of the equation, it was time to make his move.


End file.
